Arts Update: Flushing out powder room

“Men often wonder what women do when they go off to the toilet for 25 minutes, well now they know,” says director MJ Delaney of her film Powder Room.

Adapted from the play, When Women Wee by Rachel Hirons, it follows a group of female friends over one eventful night in a club and is mostly set in ladies toilets - or powder room of the title.

Sheridan Smith (pictured) plays the central character Sam feels her life is going nowhere, having lost her job, been dumped by her boyfriend. On her night out she finds herself caught between her larey old mates played by Jaime Winstone, Sarah Hoare and Riann Steele and posher friends played by singer Kate Nash and French star Oona Chaplin.

“Damian (producer Damian Jones ) gave me the script for the play on which it is based and I was given two months to get it made,” says the director whose pop-video parody became a YouTube hit followed by an award-winning ad for Aldi and a short film for Channel 4.

She feels that doesn’t show in the finished product. “You don’t make a film for £150, 000 and expect to get Universal buying it,” she says.

Was she surprised partly because it’s a film where all the significant characters are men? “If you have a film with an exclusively male cast the question is not asked,” she retorts. “I don’t feel that because it’s full of female characters it’s a girl’s film.”

Such has been demand for tickets, the producers of Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage (pictured) have announced that additional performances have been added to its 2014 run at the Sheffield Lyceum. The hit musical makes its Sheffield debut from April 15 to May 3 and tickets are now on sale for additional matinee performances on Wednesdays, April 23 and 30 at 2pm.

Radio 4’s popular comedy panel show, I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, is being recorded at the City Hall on Monday, March 31, next year. Tickets from £20 to £25 are now on sale.

After selling out their entire last season of gigs at the Lantern Theatre and The Greystones, Opus Acoustics are back with a special show at Sheffield Cathedral on Saturday, boasting one of their best line-ups to date. It comprises Canadian quartet Esmerine who have recently taken on a Turkish influence and Woolly Mammoth whose dreamy blend of deep and hypnotic harmonies is influenced by folk, classical and post rock played on guitars, cello, clarinets, drums and bass.

Sensoria was bigger and buzzier than ever this year. The festival of music and film in September attracted 11,500 admissions (representing a growth of 5%) and faster sell-outs than ever before. Organisers say Sensoria enjoyed a resounding demand for ‘more’ from the audience feedback and, as a result of 2013’s success, they are able to announce the dates for next year’s festival. Saturday, September 27, to Saturday, October 4.